London
The Gentleman Report
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Russia is looking for an unfathomable amount of money from probably the most international’s greatest tech corporations.
Google reportedly owes the Kremlin greater than 2 undecillion rubles — a 2 adopted by means of 36 zeroes — after refusing to pay fines that at the moment are accruing for blocking off pro-Russian channels on YouTube.
The almost unpronounceable penalty quantities to $20 decillion — or round $20 billion trillion trillion. That dwarfs the dimensions of the worldwide economic system.
At $110 trillion, in step with World Financial Fund figures, international gross home product appears modest compared. Google mum or dad Alphabet, in the meantime, has a marketplace worth of round $2 trillion.
Russian state media TASS reported this week {that a} Russian court docket had previous ordered Google to revive the YouTube channels — a number of of which were blocked since 2022 — or else face mounting fees, with consequences doubling each week.
Requested in regards to the lawsuit throughout a decision with journalists Thursday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov admitted that he “can’t even pronounce this determine proper” however stated that the eye-watering sum used to be “full of symbolism.” Google “will have to now not be proscribing the movements of our broadcasters on its platform,” he added.
The Gentleman Report has contacted Google for remark. In quarterly profits revealed this week, the corporate referred to “ongoing criminal issues” when it comes to its industry in Russia.
“Civil judgments that come with compounding consequences had been imposed upon us in reference to disputes in regards to the termination of accounts, together with the ones of sanctioned events,” Google stated. “We don’t imagine those ongoing criminal issues can have a subject matter antagonistic impact (on profits).”
Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Google curtailed operations within the nation however stopped wanting pulling out altogether, by contrast with a number of different American tech corporations. Lots of its products and services, together with Seek and YouTube, proceed to be to be had within the nation.
Months after the invasion, Google’s Russia subsidiary filed for chapter and paused maximum of its industrial operations after the federal government seized keep an eye on of its financial institution accounts.
